2018 in Doodles

Spent a lot of time being stuck in Lagos Traffic this year, so instead of being angry for no sensible reason, I picked up a new habit out of boredom. I used the time to teach myself how to create minimal illustrations and animations using my mobile phone. My newfound obsession was called TRAFFICDOODLES(😃@trafficdoodles on IG); so everyday based on my road experiences, new illustrations/animations were born. I totally credit boredom for this, and it's a total change of perspective on what it means to be stuck and bored. I didn't care if my lines or motions were perfect nor did I overly criticize my creations, I just chose to continuously make my mistakes and share them regardless of judgements. So back to the cliché; BE FEARLESS, IT WORKS and FIND YOUR BOREDOM in the coming year.

Traffic Doodles (The Motion Picture) →

Capturing my Traffic experiences with doodles started with illustrating a number of stills on my mobile phone, just a little over a month ago. It just only made sense  to keep pushing, so that my 4 hours (daily) invested in commuting to and from work on the roads of Lagos, could even better utilised. So I got to learning how to animate any illustration made on my mobile phone while stuck in traffic, and everything below was borne out of my non-stop trial and errors. 

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Traffic Doodles

On a daily basis, I spend about 4 hours cumulatively commuting to and from work. Since I am stuck in Lagos traffic everyday, I'm constantly in search of new creative ways  to spend my time.  A large number of passengers are always glued to the screen of mobile phones, as I usually am, so I started using my travel time to sort of draw, based on everything experienced on Lagos Roads. Using the arrangement of basic shapes I tell the story of what I read,saw or heard while on my way, and I call them TRAFFIC DOODLES. I share them via twitter, and instagram daily.I have also compiled a number of them here for your viewing pleasure.  You can follow @trafficdoodles on Instagram to stay updated.

The Great Dictator

Why we live in a time of so much lethargy eludes me, most of us all have lost what makes us humans; truly we are now shadows of what we were created to be, a distant semblance of what beings that have such amazing intellect should be capable of. I basically hate the world every time I lift my gaze and open my ears in curiosity. At this point all I do every passing second is echo the words from Charlie Chaplin’s character in The Great Dictator; and to a great extent, I believe sacrificing a few minutes of yours to listening to these words might stir something in you. So please, hit the play button.

Kiss From a Rose

Anyone who really really knows me can say one thing about me; I am obsessed with the Game: Plant Vs Zombies, why I relish the sight of brains being consumed by Zombies and play it a million and one times a day is beyond even me.  The bloody game is even now part of my  bed-time ritual, before I tune -into Radio slumber, I gotta just have my fix of Plant Vs. Zombies. This video below just perfectly captures my Zombie fascination, all thanks to @thesmilinghat. All I did was share a story with him and he brought it to life the craziest way possible. Collaboration is everything!

Escape

More often than not, it becomes clear that sitting at the desk restricts the mind. 

More often than not, it becomes clear that sitting at the desk restricts the mind. 

As  creatives, we need to constantly remind ourselves that the more experiences we have the higher the chances of our minds coming up with ideas that scare the hell out of us. Too often we remain chained to our desks and try without end to be creative. The restriction in motion seems to seize the free flow of ideas, making this work we love. so much harder than it ever should be. The deadlines will always exist, and the demand for fresh perspectives and thinking will never go away, so let's do ourselves a favour and escape often to improve what we see and what we think.  So my friend, if you are reading this, you really do need some time off. Get off the damn desk and go for a long walk, exactly what I will be doing right now, but I think I will keep my phone on (just incase) *wink*

Why African creatives remain unseen.

My Guest Post on the Luerzer's Archive

It's time for African creatives to step into the spotlight, argues Nigerian creative Owalawi Seyi in his guest post for Lürzer's Archive.

A couple of weeks ago, all every boxing lover and non-lover could see was news about the fight of the century between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. It was difficult to escape the hype. From the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas to almost all TV screens, mobile phones and laptop screens in the far continent of Africa, you just had to know something was going down.

But why can’t Nigerian (African) creatives have this same type of reception and talk value for whatever work it is they create daily? My guess is; many of us are contented with being local champions.

We have become jaded to the profession we felt so passionate about at one point in time. We have gotten used to; “Do it the client's way”. We move over, forget about it and deny when any of our friends ask if we had anything to do with the ad or campaign. This bothers me a lot, so I have tried to itemise some reasons why our work has very limited talk-value outside the confines of our country.

Copy...copy...

The majority of our creatives only do work similar to that of the foreign agencies they admire, replicating their work and styles, rather than invent one that is organically ours.

We really have failed to own and propagate our very own voice, texture, typography that speaks to our deep cultural heritage and rich customs.

Our press ads, tv, quasi-digital campaigns and radios are only slightly localised variations of those we have seen on the pages of certain magazines or ad forums we follow. With this mindset, majority of our works are rarely perceived as original when seen by the international community we intend to impress.

All this money - for what?

A large number of Nigerian agencies would never part with thousands of dollars just to give an ad the perfect 3D finish or give it the splendid image retouching that instantly glues the target to the intended message.

We try to do cheaper, faster imitations that end up looking like badly cloned doppelgangers. Trying to beat other western markets that have gotten a better grasp of how much financial commitment is required to create every creative piece will continue to limit our chances of competing and showcasing our best on a global scale.

 

Creative vs Client Services

An unfortunate great divide exists between these departments, and it constantly affects the kind of work that can be created by most agencies here.

Too often, the creative department is allowed to grow in isolation of what the client service department knows of its works, hence, the client service department has little to no knowledge of what the creatives do or how best to strategically sell their works to the clients. When the client service executive has no knowledge of the latest trends, ad styles or campaign gimmick, how can (s)he sell the client on a totally novel idea?

The Client is King

The saddest bit of it all for me is the actions of the brand managers. They focus more on meeting the numbers, sales targets for specific financial quarters, rather than thinking about investing in a long-term identity for the brand in order to totally set it apart from the competition. What is requested of most agencies is the simplest of low-budget communication that just helps them meet the sales target beforehand, and the future of the brand can wait. 

All of these are quite a few elements of what inhibits our global creative footprint, in my opinion, and I believe we need to keep fighting the good fight to change them, and make ourselves seen as global creative players. 

Are you an African creative? 

Owolawi Seyi is a copywriter with several works published in Luerzer’s Archive, and he has what he calls a fancy title at SO&U, a Nigerian ad agency (pictured above). Do you agree with his thinking, that it's time African creatives stepped into the international spotlight?

Please follow the link to view more Luerzer's Archive articles; http://luerzersarchive.net/en/blog/blog-detail/why-do-african-creatives-remain-unseen-und-137.html